Data-centric network: a network that carries digital data, primarily to facilitate information exchange among computers and computer peripherals. Examples include distributed computer networks such as the Internet.
Telephony-centric network: a network that carries telephony information such as voice, fax, page messages, and the like, primarily to facilitate information exchange among telephony devices.
Message: a communication which may be transmitted via either the data-centric network or the telephony-centric network. Examples include voicemail, e-mail, facsimile, page, and the like.
Telecommunication device: POTS telephone, cellular telephone, satellite telephone, web telephone, PC (desktop and laptop), web surfer, personal digital assistant (PDAs), facsimile machine, teletype, modem, video telephone, set top telephone.
Web telephone: a telephone implemented via a computer that is coupled to the data-centric network. An example is a PC with microphone, speaker and Internet connection.
Set top telephone: a telephone set coupled to a cable-based set top box, bypassing the local telco provider. The cable-based system may be provided by, for example, WebTV, TCI cablevision.
Web surfer: an Internet-ready PC with a network connection and pre-installed web browser.
PDA: personal digital assistant, e.g., Palm Pilot available from 3COM.
Thin Web Client: A commonly employed web browser such as Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator-JAVA enabled.
PSTN: Public Service Telephone Network, e.g., ATandT, MCI, Sprint-owned telco
GUI: graphic user interface
POTS: plain old telephone service
NOC: Network Operations Center
POP: point of presence, e.g., co-location at a local telco switch or at a company controlled area with T1 connections to a local switch.
WPOP: Web POP
VPOP: Voice POP
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates in general to the fields of telephonic and data communication, and more specifically to a notification system for alerting a user of received messages, regardless of what type of device generated the message.
2. Description of the Related Art
The term telephone (from the Greek roots tele, xe2x80x9cfar,xe2x80x9d and phone, xe2x80x9csound) was the first used to describe any apparatus for conveying sound to a distant point. Specifically, the word was applied as early as 1796 to a megaphone, and not long afterward to a speaking tube. The name string telephone was given some years after its invention (1667) to a device in which vibrations in a diaphragm caused by voice or sound waves are transmitted mechanically along a string or wire to a similar diaphragm that reproduces the sound. Still later, devices employing electric currents to reproduce at a distance the mere pitch of musical sounds were called telephones. Nowadays, the name is assigned almost exclusively to apparatus for reproducing articulate speech and other sounds at a distance through the medium of electric waves. The term telephony covers the entire art and practice of electrical speech transmission, including the many systems, accessories, and operating methods used for this purpose. Telecommunications broadens the concept still further to cover all types of communication including computer data, voice and facsimile.
In 1876, Alexander Graham Bell successfully transmitted words using a variable resistance transmitter. In the 19th century, a very short time after the introduction of Bell""s device, telephony provided connections to a relatively large number of users over relatively short distances. Today, telecommunications networks encompass a number of differing technologies just to establish a voice connection from point A to point B. For example, an end user is usually connected by way of a loop (twisted pair) to a local telephone exchange. The local exchange is then connected via a hierarchy of switching centers. The connection between the centers is called a trunk, which consists physically of cable, coax, fiber optic or microwave radio links. To connect from an end point in one city to an end point in another city the order of connection is as follows. The first end point connects with a local toll center, which in turn connects to a primary center. If the receiving end point is managed by this primary center, the call is directed to a local toll center for the recipient, and ultimately to the receiving end point. If the primary center does not manage the receiving end point, the call is passed to a sectional center. The sectional center then passes the call to a regional center to be passed back down to another sectional center, then to a primary center, and eventually to the local center responsible for the recipient end point.
Once a call leaves the local center to reach a recipient end point, the call is tagged as long distance, and the user who initiates the call is charged. Thus, for all long distance voice communication today, a user will be billed for the connection, by a long distance company who has contractual rights for time on the trunks.
In contrast to this scenario, modern data communications between computers is typically provided via data networks, rather than telephone networks, for which cost is associated more closely with the speed at which connection is made, and the amount of data that is being transferred. That is, end to end connection between computers is provided over a relatively cost free data network, commonly referred to as the Internet. However, the types of connections available over the Internet are typically associated with computer data types such as email, web pages, etc. Although some development has been made to encode voice information for transfer over the Internet, unified messaging (voice, email, fax) over a data network is still unavailable. In addition, even where voice, email and fax messaging is available, there is a strict correlation between end point communication devices that must be maintained. That is, a telephone must communicate with another telephone, a fax machine with another fax machine, and an email client with another email client. So, a voice capable computer is unable to communicate with a remote telephone, because the two devices are communicating over separate networks (telephone and data).
What is needed is a method and apparatus that allows communication devices to be connected, regardless of the type of device desiring the connection, and regardless of the typical network upon which the device communicates.
Furthermore, as multiple device types are coupled together over a data network, it is possible that a user will wish to access all of his/her messages, regardless of message type, via a unified system, from either a computer or telephone. Since multiple message types (email, voicemail, fax) will all be received within a unified messaging system, what is needed is the ability to alert a user of a message received, without regard to the type of end device generating the message. That is, the user should have the capability of configuring his/her communication system to alert him/her upon receipt of messages, whether fax, voice or email, in any desired form, such as fax, voice, email, pager, etc.
To address the above-detailed deficiencies, the present invention provides a web based message alert system that includes a local point of presence (POP) server coupled to a plurality of message sending devices, and a device independent message notification system coupled to the POP server. The message notification system includes message alert type selection, and incoming message filtering, configurable by a user. The system also includes a plurality of receiving devices, coupled to the message notification system, for receiving a message alert according to the message alert type selection.
In another aspect, the present invention provides a message notification system, coupled to a data network, for receiving a plurality of messages originating from a plurality of different message sending devices, and for notifying a plurality of receiving devices upon receipt of selected ones of the plurality of received messages. The system includes a web server and message notification. The web server is coupled to the different message sending devices, to receive the messages. The message notification is coupled to the web server to obtain the selected ones of the received messages using user definable criteria, and for generating a message alert. The web server receives the message alert, and provides the message alert to the receiving devices utilizing the data network.
In another aspect, the present invention provides a method for alerting a user upon receipt of selected ones of a plurality of messages, the plurality of messages being generated from a plurality of telecommunication devices, the method alerting the user via the plurality of telecommunication devices according to user selectable criteria. The method includes receiving the plurality of messages via a data network; distinguishing between the plurality of received messages according to message type; selecting the ones of the plurality of messages according to the message type; and alerting the user upon receipt of the selected ones of the plurality of messages using any of the plurality of telecommunication devices.
In a further aspect, the present invention provides a method for selectively alerting a user of a received message, the message being filtered according to pre-selected criteria, the user alerted via a pre-selected telecommunication device. The method includes: providing a data server for recognizing received messages from different device types; filtering the received messages according to the pre-selected criteria defined by the user, the filtering distinguishing between the different device types; and alerting the user via the pre-selected telecommunication device, the pre-selected telecommunication device being selected from alert receiving device types; where the type of pre-selected telecommunication device receiving the alert is independent of the different device types from which the received messages originate.